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Will

whami@bookwyrm.social

Joined 2 years, 3 months ago

A numbers geek reading SFF to maintain some hope in this world.

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Jade City (2017) 3 stars

"Stylish and action-packed, full of ambitious families and guilt-ridden loves, Jade City is an epic …

Not for me (spoilers)

3 stars

This book is competently written, but is not for me. I had no connection to any of the main characters and while the author made attempts to explain their motivations to make them more endearing, most of it rang untrue for me. A few of the lesser characters had far more interesting and complicated storylines, notably Doru, Wen, and Anden.

The biggest letdown for me was after 600 pages of hearing about honor, even between clans as part of some unwritten code of rules, the climax comes from winning a battle by feigning a surrender and then using that as the element of surprise to triumph. From everything I'd been told about Hilo up until then, it feels that while he would do that, it doesn't seem like he'd take satisfaction from winning in that way, yet he does.

I'm interested to know how some of the minor characters progress, …

Perhaps the Stars (Hardcover, 2021, Tor Books) 4 stars

From the 2017 John W. Campbell Award Winner for Best Writer, Ada Palmer's Perhaps the …

Satisfaction (no spoilers)

5 stars

After a long wait for the final Terra Ignota volume, Perhaps The Stars does not disappoint. Yes, there are parts that on and on, but they work if you've bought in to the previous books. There is even in-story justification for this that was started in The Will to Battle.

The dense prose we've come to expect continues here, and I feel I need to complete a reread before I can write much more of a review.

In short, if you liked the previous novels then this is an extremely satisfying conclusion. Those who found the prior works to be more of a struggle won't have any relief here.

We Are Satellites (2021, Berkley Pub Group, Berkley) 4 stars

From award-winning author Sarah Pinsker comes a novel about one family and the technology that …

Review of 'We Are Satellites' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I enjoyed the story of this book very much, but the writing felt weak. The dialogue was often presented as just cold back-and-forth. There was emotion in what was being said, just not in how it was written.